Medieval Art History | Exam #2 | Dr. Bevin Butler

graticule

network of parallels (latitude) and meridians (longitude); essentially a grid

projection

way of flattening the round Earth onto a flat surface

kerning

• stretches text

• done by hand at the time

• emphasizes going on a journey

Chronica maiora

• provides mental journey for monks

  • page turning as a metaphor for travel, progressing on journey

• flaps in book, can be unfolded

  • interactive elements, dynamic reading, multiple ways of reading

• architectural drawings are accurate to actual sites

Medieval maps

• all East oriented

  • sun rises in east: sunrise, heaven, Jerusalem

Hereford World Map

• 1000+ inscriptions

• Jerusalem in center of composition

  • thought to be most holy cite; “portal to heaven”

• antisemitic and racist depictions

• may have been displayed in North Transept in its cathedral

parchment

• animal skin - flesh and hair sides

• stretched, washed, and cleaned

lapis lazuli is

more valuable than gold!

quires

• modern day: signatures

• bundle of pages

pens and brushes

quills, animal hair brush bristles

ink and paints

ground pigment (minerals, variety of other things) + egg tempera

palimpsest

upcycled parchment

copying text

• scored paper, calligraphy

• mostly done by nuns and monks

decoration

• optional

• illustrations, marginalia

• gold leaf

book binding

• sewing together quires

• cover = leather covered plate (metal, wood, etc.)

Gospel Books

passed down orally before being written and standardized

The Evangelists

• authors of gospels

• sometimes depicted in art as divinely inspired authors

• also represented by symbolic or beastly forms

Man

• image of creator

• Mark

Lion

• king of beasts

• Mark

Ox/bull

• king of domestic animals

• Luke

Eagle

• king of birds

• John

insular

art of the British Isles

scriptorium

place where manuscripts are written

Book of Durrow

• oldest surviving insular Gospel

• illuminations: beastly evangelist portraits, carpet pages, incipit pages

carpet page

• art history term

• typically a page of rectangular, intricate artwork

• looks like the name says

incipit page

first page of a Gospel

order in manuscript

evangelist portrait → carpet page → incipit page → gospel text

Lindisfarne Gospels

• colophon: written and illuminated by Eadfrith (Bishop of [term], 698-721)

• famously intricate: interlaced scrollwork; linear and anthropomorphic

Book of Kells

• started by scribe Connachtach (killed at Iona in 802 by vikings)

• at least 4 monks helped finish in monastery at [term]

• one of the most famous insular gospel books

• virgin and child page may suggest Byzantine influence

Carolingian Period

• c. 780-900

• Charlemagne

• Holy Roman Empire

Charlemagne

• credited with uniting most of western Europe

• crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800

• regarded as saint in HRE - later middle ages, but never officially canonized

• created “court schools”

Godescale Gospels

• made in court school

• Christ in Majesty influenced by Byzantine and Roman painting, as well as intricate insular arts

court schools

standardized writing and scripts taught during Carolingian Period

Lindau Gospels

• Front cover: east France c 870-880; repousse

• Inside cover: pastedown; woven silk from Byzantium

• Text and illuminations: Monastery of St Gall

• Back cover: Salzburg, Austria, late 8th cen

recto

right

verso

left

Lindau Front Cover

• repousse cold Crucifixion

• heavily jeweled

• 3D, sculptural, architectural

• reliquary for word of God and the life of Christ

Lindau Pastedown Inside Cover

• exotic, valuable textiles in book bindings throughout Europe

• likely recycled from older/earlier

Lindau Text and Illuminations

example of Charlemagne standardized script/text

Lindau Back Cover

gold, silver, gemstones, enamel

Ottonian Dynasty

• c. 900-1000 CE

• 3 guys, all HRE emperors

Gospel Book of Otto III

• c 1000, German

• personifications of 4 chief provinces of HRE paying homage to [guy]

• gestures and wide eyes, harsh colors, gold lead backgrounds, stylized drapery & figures → narrative & iconic/symbolic

Otto III Luke Portrait

• winged ox above [guy], King David above ox

• not shown writing, but with stack of books and receiving divine inspiration

• frenetic energy

  • big on Byzantine influence

Moralized Bible (Bible Moralisee)

• elaborately illuminated and biblical manusripts

• popular in France and Spain in 13th cen

• owned mostly by wealthy & nobility; among most expensive

• thousands of images; some only illuminated on flesh sides (hair side left blank if bleed-through = RICH)

  • 7 medieval copies exist with medallion framework

• typological pairing

typological pairing

• old testament and new testament stories paired to explain one another (metaphor, foreshadowing, etc)

  • Birth of Eve vs. Birth/Creation of Church

  • Sacrificing Lamb vs. Crucifixion

Ecclesia

female depiction of Church

Bible of St. Louis

• dedication page: Blanche of Castille & [guy] with scribes

• Blanche commissioned manuscript

Book of Hours

• often form of Breviary

• psalms and other prayers

• not really for monks of nuns; for regular but wealthy people

• devotional text

• Hours of Liturgy

Breviary

monastic book with Divine Offices, prayers, and songs for specific times

Hours of Liturgy

times to pause in order to pray and/or sing for an hour, typically in ~3 hour increments

Book of Hours of Jeann d’Evreux

• for Queen of France (Charles IV), commissioned by Charles between 1325-1328

• 20 full-page illuminations by Jean Pucelle

  • grisalle technique - grayscale figures

• small size, probably girdle book

• images of Life of Christ to illustrate Hours of Virgin

• scenes from life of Louis IX (her great-grandfather)

bas-de-page

bottom of the page

Mozarabs

Christians living in Islamic Spain

Mudejar

Muslim or Muslim-trained artists working for Christian or Jewish patrons

apocalypse theory

awareness of Islam as indicator of end times

manicule

hands drawn to indicate important sections of text

Beatus Manuscripts

• copies of Commentary on the Apocalypse

• 34 surviving medieval ones

• heavily illuminated, mostly consumed by wealthy & nobility

Beatus of Liebana

• c. 730-800

• Spanish monk, theologian, geographer

• wrote Commentary on the Apocalypse in 776

The Morgan Beatus

• Maius - Spanish monk, scribe, and iluminator

• best known for this work, copied and illuminated for monks at San Miguel de Escalada

  • 300 leaves; includes 64 full-page and 48 smaller illustrations

  • elaborate colophon

Book of Revelations

• final book of New Testament

• apocalyptic visions of St John the Evangelist (received while in exile)

• metaphor of Christianity triumphing over heresy and enemies (Muslims and Islam at the time)

The Vision of the Lamb - Morgan Beatus

• great multitude (some with palms) representing all the people of the world

• Lamb of God in top center

• angels and four beasts (evangelists) bowing

• St John receiving visions of the apocalypse

Leon Bible of 960

• “Mozarabic Bible of St. Isidore”

• copied and illuminated by Florencios and Sancho (scribes) in Monastery of Valeranica in Tordomar

• tables showing Christ’s descent from Adam; Heavily decorated Old Testament (80 illuminations)

  • less illuminations through New Testament

Medieval Bestiary

• observation of animal behavior + science + history + Christianity

• info compiled from other ancient and medieval texts

• more commonly illuminated than other types of manuscripts

• often begins with Creation in Genesis

bestiary illuminations

inspired by descriptions of animal appearances and behaviors

bestiary animal classifications

• beasts

• livestock

• small animals

• birds

• snakes and reptiles

• worms

• fish

sometimes also includes trees, plants, and stones

Natural History

Pliny the Elder, ca 78 CE

Physiologus

2nd century CE

Etymologiae

Isidore of Seville, ca 630 CE

Magpie & Raven, Aberdeen Bestiary, fol. 37r.

Mole & Hedgehog, Ashmole Bestiary, fol. 36r.

Sirens, Northumberland Bestiary, fol. 14

Phoenix

• bird of Arabia (“exotic” + unseen = from East)

• lives 500+ years

• willingly gathers items for death, lights self on fire, reborn from ashes

• metaphor for Crucifixion, Resurrection, & Eucharist

Pelican

• very common in medieval art

• Egyptian, lives in Nile River

• Kills its babies, grieves for 3 days, uses blood to revive them

• metaphor for Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Eucharist

Lion

• erase their tracks with their tail so hunters cannot follow

• cub is thought to sleep for three days and nights after birth

  • waken by roar of father

• metaphor for Crucifixion and Resurrection

Lion illumination. Ashmole Bestiary, fol 10v

Pelican, Northumberland Bestiary, fol 41r

Unicorn, Northumberland Bestiary, fol 11r

Unicorn

• four-footed beast with a single horn on its forehead

• strong and pierces anything it attacks

• cannot be caught unless a virgin girl exposes her breast to it

• metaphor: Persecution/execution of Jesus; importance of virginity; courtship and romantic pursuit

• Creation of Eve from Adam’s rib + Creation of Church from Christ’s side wound

• “Vienna 2554” Moralized Bible, French, c 1220,
  Austrian National Library, 13 ½ X 10 ¼ in

Louis IX Feeding the Sick and
Washing the Feet of the Poor

Death of King Louis IX

• Sext (Noon)

• Crucifixion & Adoration of the Magi

• Terce (Mid-Morning)

• Christ Carrying the Cross & Annunciation to Shepards

Godescalc Gospels, Aachen, 781-783,
12 X 8 ½ in, BNF NALat. 1203, fol. 3r

The Lindau Gospels
Front Cover: Eastern France;
c 870-880, 12 ½ X 10in

Gospel Book of Otto III, Illuminated Manuscript,
c 1000. German (Reichenau?), 13 X 9 ½ in.
Munich: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm. 4453, fol. 24r

• Transfiguration – Christ appears (with Moses & Elijah)
  to James, John, and Peter; God speaks to them

• Gospel Book of Otto III, Illuminated Manuscript,
  c 1000. German (Reichenau?), 13 X 9 ½ in.

Wh0re of Babylon, Beatus’ Commentary on
the Apocalypse (“The Silos Apocalypse”),
1091-1109, 12 ½ X 17 in.
London: British Library, Add. 11695, fol. 183v

Adoration of the Lamb, The Morgan Beatus,
Leon (Spain), c 940-945, 15 X 11 in.
New York: The Morgan Library, MS M.644, fol. 87r.

Woman Clothed with the Sun, The Morgan
Beatus, Leon (Spain), c 940-945, 15 X 11 in.
New York: The Morgan Library,
MS M.644, fol. 152v-153r.

Evangelists, Book of Kells, c. 800.
Trinity College (Dublin) IE TCD MS 58, fol. 27v.

Matthew, Lindisfarne Gospels, c 715-720
British Library Cotton MS Nero D.IV, fol. 25v

ohn, Book of Durrow, 248 folios, 9 ½ X 5 ¾ in.
Trinity College (Dublin) TCD MS 57, fol. 84v.